


So Enter Now...This Now Is Yours

by HopeRebel



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Attempted Murder, Based on Bluebeard, Dark, Domestic Violence, F/M, Finn and Poe are Rey's adoptive brothers, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Lying/Manipulation, Past Domestic Violence, Past Murder, Past Violence, References to Suicide, Rey Makes Some Bad Life Choices, Rough Sex, Self-Defense, There Is No Happily Ever After, Threats of Violence, Violence, choking during sex, please mind the tags, self-defense killing, there will be blood - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:22:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23248435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeRebel/pseuds/HopeRebel
Summary: Rey has married the man of her dreams, and moved into his castle in the countryside away from her brothers. At first, her new husband Ben dotes on her, but he soon begins to act distant and strange. When he leaves on a trip, he gives her the keys to the castle, warning her not to open the door that the littlest key opens. It’s not long before the forbidden room calls to Rey…
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 19





	So Enter Now...This Now Is Yours

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the fairy tale / folktale of Bluebeard, and follows the violence and themes of the original story. For reasons I'm still not clear on, the tale of Bluebeard was a favorite of mine growing up (also, how/why was it in a kid's fairy tale book???). So here we are. 
> 
> This is absolutely a dark fic. This story does involve the past murder of women, and the attempted murder of Rey. There is violence, blood, and gore. Ben/Kylo is not nice in this, and this story does not have a happy ending. Please take care of yourself and do not read if you are not up for it. 
> 
> If you are up for it, welcome. Please gather around for a story, and enjoy the blood and darkness.

[ ](https://imgur.com/65JMJtn)

There once was a young woman who lived in a town with her adoptive brothers. The three children had all been abandoned, and were taken in by a caring couple named Jyn and Cassian. As they grew, the three children formed a close bond, and decided that they all three would learn what each was taught. As such, the boys, Finn and Poe, learned to sew and to cook, as much as Rey, the girl, learned to ride a horse and wield a sword. 

It happened that when the children had grown, a handsome and rich man arrived in their town. Jyn and Cassian owned and ran an inn and tavern in town, and the man, who gave his name as Ben, stayed with them. The girl who was now a young woman was curious and entranced by the newcomer. The boys who were now young men were equally as curious, but far more wary of the man. As Rey helped to serve him his evening meal, they watched how his eyes followed her body move through the room. His eyes reminded her brothers of a hawk or a wolf, watching for just the right moment to attack. Rey for her part couldn’t see what her brothers saw, and found her heart softening towards the new man. 

Ben was kind to her, never reaching out to touch or grab the way other travelers might. He always had a small, secret smile for her, and a compliment to give. Days turned to weeks, and Ben still stayed at the inn. Rey began to confide in him, and he in her. His parents were both deceased, and she told him of being abandoned and raised with her adoptive family. He wasn’t offended that she could swing a sword or ride her own horse. In fact, they began to go on long afternoon rides out of the village and into the forest. 

One afternoon, far into the forest they came upon a clear, swift stream, and stopped their horses to water. Their animals cared for, Rey and Ben settled by the stream, and let their feet and legs cool in the water. 

After a few minutes pause, Ben turned to Rey, and took her hand in his. She was amazed at how his palm dwarfed hers, and how his fingers wrapped around her own, yet she felt safe and secure.

Ben spoke to her, “Rey, I have to return to my home soon. My lands need to be cared for, and I have been away too long. It is only because I could not bear to leave you. Is there some chance that you too could not bear to leave me? In which case I would have you this very day as my wife.”

Rey was surprised, but pleased, by his sudden proposal, and she turned to face him, taking his other hand in hers. “Nothing would make me happier. I cannot bear to see you leave, Ben. I would follow you home gladly as your wife.”

His smile split her soul open, and he pulled her close. Crushing her body to his chest, Rey lost herself in his embrace as he began to kiss her. Ben’s hands were squeezing her ribs almost hard enough to bruise as he kissed her as though only her lips and the air from her lungs could save him from drowning. She pushed back into his kiss, teasing with her tongue, as he nipped and sucked on her lower lip. Rey tentatively bit back, and was rewarded with Ben biting down hard enough on her lower lip to draw blood. 

She drew back as far as she could while still in Ben’s arms, exclaiming in pain. Concern suddenly flooded Ben’s face, as she checked to see how badly the inside of her lip was bleeding. “Are you alright my love?” he asked in a low murmur.

Rey pulled her fingers away from her mouth, and seeing only a small amount of blood, nodded. “I am. Kiss me again?” Ben responded with another smile, and leaned in to kiss her more gently this time. 

When the happy couple returned to the inn, her parents were delighted at the news. Ben had after all been a model customer, and seemed to genuinely care for Rey. Her brothers were not so easily convinced. 

As Ben was busy packing her few belongings along with his, they spoke with her. Finn spoke first, “Rey, why are you doing this? What do you actually know about him?”

Before Rey could respond, Poe asked her more questions as well. “How could you rush into this so quickly? How do you know he will care for you?”

Rey looked from one brother to the other, and threw her hands into the air. “I love him, and I know him well enough. Isn’t it enough that we love each other, and know we want to spend our days together? He has cared for me these weeks, why wouldn’t he continue to do so as my husband?”

The brothers wanted to continue their argument, to warn her of what they saw in his eyes, but they knew she would hear none of it. As well, Ben had entered the room, and it was time for them to leave. 

Ben had arranged for the town priest to marry them that evening. It was a quiet and small ceremony, with her parents and her brothers. While they may have had their doubts, they still loved and supported their sister. 

That night, the new bride and bridegroom began their travels back to his home. It was not a long journey, as Ben’s holdings were on the other side of the valley from the village where Rey had lived. Rey had known that Ben had land holdings, and was thus nobility, but she could not have imagined the castle that he was lord of. Starkly tall, and dark, the walls stretched up to the sky. Crenelations and arrow slit windows dotted the uppermost stories, as the mountains raised up behind the castle. The stone work was old, but it was holding together well. 

“Welcome to Castle Ren, my lady,” Ben said as he pulled his horse up alongside her.

“Ben, it’s breathtaking,” she replied looking from him to back at the castle.

“It’s old and drafty, but it’s home,” he responded. Home included a minimal staff Rey learned: a crotchety hostler named Arnold and an anxious butler called Charles. “They’ve been working for my family for years, and I don’t have the heart to let either of them go,” Ben explained as they retired for the night. 

Rey looked around the bedchamber, and seeing only the one large bed, she began to be nervous about the wedding night. She had an understanding of the mechanics of what would happen, although she had not experienced it herself. Ben on the other hand she was quite sure knew exactly what he was doing, if earlier at the creek had been any indication. 

Rey hadn’t realized that her hands were shaking until Ben took a hold of them. Looking up at him, he smiled at her, and said, “We’ll take it slow.”

Her new husband drew her over to the bed, and began to unlace her dress. That gone, she stood before him in only her chemise. Ben swiftly removed his own shirt, standing before her in only his trousers. Her gaze fell to the muscles of his torso, as he removed her chemise. The cold castle air immediately perked up her nipples, which Ben quickly noticed. Rey could see his arousal swelling within his trousers, as he hoisted her backwards onto the bed. Even before he was completely naked, Rey knew he had a healthy, large cock. She had moved up towards the pillows at the head of the bed, and her now-naked husband followed her on his hands and knees. She could see the hunger in his eyes, as he leaned down to suck one of her nipples into his mouth, raking his teeth across the tip of her nipple. One of his large hands found the other breast, squeezing it tightly, before releasing suddenly, only to pinch her other nipple. Rey’s breath was beginning to come quickly, and she could feel her own arousal pooling between her legs. Ben moved up her body, kissing, biting, and licking his way up her chest, leaving purple marks up to her collarbone. Then he bit suddenly at the juncture of her neck and shoulder, while he simultaneously began to circle her sensitive nub. Rey let out a low moan, and he continued to suck and bite on her neck, as he inserted one finger deep inside of her pussy. He began to push his finger in and out of her lazily, while still playing with her clit.

“More,” Rey found herself moaning. Ben obliged by sinking another finger deep inside, and beginning to pump faster. His other hand had come up to grab her wrists, and force them over her head. Rey could only moan and writhe as he began to bite a new spot on her breast, and added yet a third finger to her soaking pussy. Rey’s hips began to thrust of their own accord, trying to take in as much of Ben’s fingers as possible. She could feel warmth and tension begin to coil low in her abdomen, as Ben continued to speed his fingers inside of her. Finally, he pushed down strongly on her nerve bundle at the same time as he thrust his fingers deep within. Rey cried out, screaming his name as her body spiraled into climax. 

Before she could come down fully, Ben had removed his fingers, and was lining up the head of his cock with her entrance. His hand was no longer on her wrists, but her arms were still above her head, opening her body up to him. “Beautiful,” Ben breathed as he began to fill her with his cock. All Rey could do was moan in pleasure as Ben slowly pushed himself entirely into her to the hilt. Leaning over her, he took hold of her wrists again with one hand, and grabbed onto her breast with the other hand. He paused for a moment, simply looking at her, and she gazed into his dark brown eyes, wide with lust. Then her hips canted against his again, and Ben’s expression grew dark and promising. He twisted and squeezed her nipple as he started to thrust into Rey. She could feel him slipping almost fully out, just catching the head still inside her entrance, before snapping back home. Her legs came up on either side of him, bending her knees almost to her underarms. This encouraged Ben, as he began to thrust harder, slamming into her hard enough she thought he might bruise her sit bones. As the tempo of his thrusting increased, so too did his force with her breasts. He slapped at her breasts, then pinched her nipples, twisting them one way and another. Rey was keening and wriggling against him, and Ben kept thrusting his cock deep within her, faster now. She could feel her orgasm building again, and was moaning loudly with each thrust. 

“Not yet,” Ben told her firmly. She gazed back at him, as he removed his hand from her breast and slowly wrapped his fingers around her throat. Panic and pleasure warred within her. Ben started to grip her throat tighter, and thrust as fast as he could. Rey could feel her breath struggling to enter her lungs, but could do nothing about it. She looked into the eyes of her husband, and at that moment, he commanded her, “Now.”

He squeezed her throat just a little bit tighter, and the world exploded around her. Rey could hear Ben shouting above her, and could feel her pussy clenching around his cock. He had stopped thrusting into her, but his cock was still pulsing deep within her. He had removed his hand from her throat, but not his hand from her wrists. Ben reached down between them as she could feel him begin to soften. Rather than draw his cock out of her, his fingers found her clit again, and he rubbed at her furiously. “Give me one more, Rey.” She couldn’t deny him, and her third orgasm tore through her shortly after his words.

Ben held her as her body shook, and she fell asleep curled within his arms.

The first few weeks at Castle Ren fell into an easy routine. Rey helped Ben with his paperwork for the holdings, and they went on afternoon rides still. Their nights were filled with moans of pleasure, and if the moans were sometimes also those of pain, Rey learned she enjoyed those too. 

The next few weeks were much the same. Except Ben grew short and curt with her in the mornings, while she helped with paperwork. Arnold and Charles were scarce when she was with Ben. Rey still rode her horse every afternoon, but Ben frequently did not join her. Rey found that their nights were still a mix of pleasure and pain, but the pain was more frequent.

Yet Ben still loved her, and he never raised a hand to her in anger. More than one vase and pitcher were broken, but Rey was never harmed.

After about three months, right before the harvest was to come in, Ben announced that he had to leave for two weeks’ travel. Rey was to stay at the castle, and keep care of things. The morning that he left, Ben handed Rey the ring that held the keys to every room in the castle. “You may go anywhere in the castle Rey, it is your home. Except, do not go into the room that is opened with this key.” Ben held up the smallest key on the ring. “That room is private and off-limits.” He bent to kiss her. “I am sure you will find plenty to occupy yourself elsewhere in the castle though. I shall see you in two weeks.”

Rey watched her husband depart, and after he had left her sight, she examined the keys. The littlest one was golden, and inscribed, “So Enter Now.” Rey gave a distinctly unladylike snort at that. 

When she went into the kitchen, Charles was there, and she startled him. “Oh, Mistress Rey, I’m so sorry. I shall get out of your way right away.”

“No need Charles,” she said. “Would you happen to know which room the smallest key opens?”

“That would be Master Ren’s study in the basement. That room is private and off-limits.”

“Yes, I know that Charles — wait, you mean Master Ben, yes? Not Master Ren?”

“Surely I know my employer Mistress Rey,” Charles huffed, and left the room. 

Rey studied the keys again. Most were steel or bronze, but the littlest one was gold. To avoid temptation, she removed the key from the ring, and placed it in a teacup in the kitchen cabinet. 

The first day, Rey explored every room on the west side of the ground floor. The second day, the east half of the ground floor. She found the old ballroom, an old armory, and a library. The next four days were spent moving through the bedrooms on the second and third floors. Rey found rooms that had clearly once been a nursery decades past, and a mix of decorated bedrooms, each with studies or salons attached on the second floor. The third floor rooms were smaller, perhaps originally for servants. Arnold now stayed in a room adjoining the stables, and Charles lived on the ground floor near the kitchen. Rey and Ben’s room was on the second floor, connected to two separate studies. 

Rey found that Ben had even given her the key to his desk and trunk in his study. In the desk she found nothing she hadn’t seen before. In the trunk she found a series of letters addressed to Lord Kylo Ren. She set them back in the trunk without reading them. Sitting at Ben’s desk rather than her own, Rey fiddled with the drawers, looking for some extra paper. She hadn’t written her brothers in weeks, and had meant to do so. When she lifted a set of papers out of the topmost drawer, Rey found the blank paper she was looking for, but also letters addressed to her from her brothers. They had been opened, and never given to her. Beneath those was a small knife, and beneath that the bottom of the drawer had a small hole, the same shape as the knife. 

Rey inserted the knife into the drawer, and pulled out the false bottom. Inside were six notes, each signed “The Lady Ren,” in a different hand. Each in their own words spoke of the love Lord Kylo Ren showed, but that it simply wasn’t enough anymore. Even love couldn’t keep them happy, and they were leaving.

Confused, Rey refolded the ladies’ notes, and replaced everything in the drawer except for the letters from her brothers, and a blank piece of paper. Her brothers’ letters were simple enough: news from home, how Jyn and Cassian were doing without her being home. There was an undercurrent to them though. Both Poe and Finn asked how she was, and concern laced their words since they had not heard back from her, or heard back regularly. She put their letters back as she had found them, and took the blank paper to her own desk to compose a letter in reply.

That morning she would have written that all was well. That afternoon however, Rey was struggling to put to words her concern and worry. Her husband was absent, he was clearly withholding her letters, and he was holding onto ones - in hiding! - to a Lord Kylo Ren. Who was this Ren? What did he have to do with Ben? Who were The Ladies Ren? Where had they gone?

She sent her letter to Finn and Poe that evening, courtesy of one of the youths of the holdings and a small bag of coin. He returned the next evening with a return letter from Finn. It read, “We don’t know who he or the ladies are. But we will find out, and come to you as soon as we do know.” Rey burnt the letter in the fireplace.

For the next two days, Rey simply paced the hallways. Eventually, she checked the fourth floor of the castle, finding a small attic as the only non-empty room. It was at the top of a steep winding stone staircase, and the door was a sturdy old wood and iron one. 

It had been ten days, and Ben would still not be home for another four. Rey still had not explored the basement floor, and the smallest key was still safely in its teacup. Rey decided to go downstairs and look around the basement that afternoon during the heat of the day.

By and large, it was unremarkable, and resembled other underground cellars in other castles. There was a food and wine storage area, and down an even deeper stairwell the family crypt. Rey found the resting places of Ben’s parents, but no one in the crypt bore the name Ren. 

Finally, Rey came face to face with the room she could not enter. It had a simple enough door, plain and well-maintained. There was no dust on the ground leading towards the door, and none on the handle. Above the door were engraved the words, “This Now Is Yours.”

Rey had not had any interest in actually entering the off-limits room when Ben had left the castle. Standing in front of the door now though, with all of her questions, she very much wanted in. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and left the basement floor.

The mystery of the room and what was going on in the castle consumed Rey the next day. From the moment she awoke, the only thing she could focus on was the fact that the room in the basement was the one place she could not go in the castle. By lunchtime, she was certain that it was the only place in the castle that held the answers to all of her questions. Rey was certain that she could enter the room, and Ben would never know. She would then be disobeying him, which she did not want to do. Ben always rewarded her when she did as he asked. By the same token, Ben had never punished her for not doing as he had asked either.

That night, Rey slept fitfully, tossing and turning throughout her attempts to sleep. She woke early on the twelfth day, and made up her mind on her way to the kitchen. She was going to open the forbidden door. When Charles had vacated the kitchen, Rey retrieved the small golden key, and placed it in her pocket. She had dressed that morning in work clothes, all dark colors, and soft-soled black boots. 

Rey headed back into the basement, and back to the door she was not supposed to enter. Taking a deep breath, she slipped the key into its lock and turned it. The latch clicked, and with it, warm liquid oozed out of the keyhole and onto Rey’s fingers. Shocked, she almost dropped the key. Upon removal, she realized that both her fingers and the little golden key now had blood upon them. Rey quickly wiped her hands on her clothes, and began to clean the key as well. Her hands now clean, she noticed that the blood had somehow seeped into the key, turning it a dark scarlet color. 

Before she could ponder how to change the color of the key back, the door swung open slowly with a soft gust of air that pushed her from behind. Rey stepped into the room, and closed the door behind her before looking around. When she turned back to the room, she clapped her hand to her mouth to muffle her scream.

There, hanging on the walls, were six very dead women. 

It was clear that the women had been died in succession, as they were all in different stages of decay. The oldest looked to be practically a skeleton, while the most recent appeared to have only recently met death relative to the others. As Rey continued to look at the women, she realized something else, which was that their heads and their bodies were no longer connected. Each head rested on a small shelf that divided their heads from their bodies. Each body was then affixed to the wall with wrist shackles and rope around the waist. Beneath each body was a vat, which Rey could see were each filled with congealing blood. Rey also saw a large hand and a half bastard sword on the wall, hung in a place of pride, and stained with blood. 

Rey put the pieces together in her mind, that these six women were clearly “The Ladies Ren.” She also realized that different name or not, the most likely candidate for killing these women was her husband, Ben. Rey could feel her heart breaking as the realization washed over her. A last, equally chilling, realization was that there was one last space on the wall, and she was certain it was meant for her.

Rey left the room, locking it behind her, and turned to come face to face with Charles. “Master Ren will not be pleased,” was all he said.

“I can’t imagine, no,” Rey responded, darting around him, and racing upstairs. She grabbed supplies in the kitchen, and locked herself in Ben’s study off of their bedroom. Once there, she tried to scrub the key with soap and water, to scour it with sand like armor, and even to try and chip some of the gold off with a steel knife. Nothing worked, and the key remained the color of blood. 

Setting that aside on the desk, Rey began to read the letters to Lord Kylo Ren in the trunk. The more she read, the more disheartened and frightened she became. Her husband and this Ren were truly one and the same, which made the six dead women her husband’s previous six wives.

Rey again went to the desk, and removed the knife from the drawer and the six notes. She found an oilskin envelope pouch, and placed all of the notes and the stolen letters from her brothers inside along with the knife and the bloodstained key. The large steel knife from the kitchen she tucked into the waistband of her skirt. Rey headed for the stables, to saddle her horse, and place the oilskin packet in her saddlebag. She didn’t care about anything else of hers in the castle; her only thought was to run home to her brothers and parents.

As soon as the packet was in her saddlebag, Rey could hear the thundering of hooves headed her way. Ben and his horse flew into the stables, and he jumped off of his horse to sweep her into his arms. Rey had to remind herself to embrace him in return. Ben pulled back and looked at her. “Rey, you’re so pale. Come inside, let’s get you something to eat.”

“You’re home early,” Rey observed.

“I am. I missed you, and wanted to see you again my love.”

Rey swallowed, and smiled up at Ben. “I missed you too. Food sounds wonderful.”

“But first, little wife, may I have my keys back?”

Rey rustled into her pocket and produced the keyring. “Of course.”

“Now, Rey, where is the smallest golden key?”

Rey tapped her own forehead with the flat of her fingers. “I forgot to put it back on the ring. I put it in a teacup in the kitchen so I wouldn’t be tempted. Let me go fetch it.”

Ben chuckled, and kissed her on the top of her head. “Of course, my sweet.”

Rey sped to the house, but rather than head for the kitchen - since the key was still safely in the stables - she ran for the unlocked armory, grabbing a crossbow and bolts. From there she headed to the attic which she had left unlocked, and barricaded herself inside. She knew Ben was following her, since she had heard him on the stairs. 

BANG. BANG. BANG. Ben slammed at the door to the attic with his fist. “Little wife, what are you doing up here? Surely the key is not in the attic.”

“It’s not. It should still be in the kitchen,” Rey tried as she set up the crossbow.

“Then why aren’t you in the kitchen, my love?” 

Rey huffed and hefted the crossbow. “Not hungry,” she retorted. 

“Ah. I see. You went into the room. Tell me dear wife. Why do you think I was the reason harm came to those women? Surely if you found them, then you found their suicide notes to me in my desk as well, right?”

“They didn’t kill themselves. The notes are too similar. Someone else killed them. And I can’t picture either Charles or Arnold using that bastard sword down there.”

“But you can picture me.” Ben chuckled darkly. “I do want you to know, before anything else happens, I do love you.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Rey responded. With that, there was a sudden crash and crack at the door, and the tip of an axe blade appeared through it. 

Rey forced herself not to scream, but to instead focus the target of her crossbow where the eventual hole in the door would appear.

Just then, she heard more horses entering the courtyard, and her brothers both shouting her name. Rey ran to the small window, and shouted down, “I’m here! Stay down there!”

As she returned to her position, she could just make out Finn shouting back, “What?! No!” Rey knew it was pointless to try and keep them at bay, she just hoped they wouldn’t get hurt.

Ben had swung the axe into the door again, and a small chip hole was beginning to form. It was too high to shoot him though.

Rey concentrated on her breathing and waited as Ben continued to hack at the door. After the fourth swing, there was enough space for Rey to let her bolt fly. She heard more than saw it strike him in his shoulder, and the force of the shot sent Ben tumbling down the spiral stairs. She dropped the crossbow, and pulled the knife out of her belt. Opening the door, she saw that the axe was still at the top of the stairs. She ran down the spiral staircase, both hoping and dreading to find Ben dead at the foot of them.

He was at the foot, but he was not dead. The fall had broken the bolt out of Ben’s shoulder, which was now weeping blood, as he stood looking at her. The bastard sword from the basement was in his hand, and Rey stopped a few steps up.

“Wait, how…?” she trailed off, pointing with her knife.

“I don’t need a key for that door,” Ben said with a grimace. Then he swung for her. Rey dove to the side, dodging his blow. Ben turned to advance on her, holding the hand and a half sword with only one hand. Rey knew she would never match his strength, but she could hopefully outlast his energy. Ben swept the sword up towards her in an arc, and then finished the pattern with a downwards stroke. Rey continued to leap backwards and out of the way. She only had her knife, and thus couldn’t get close to him without risking serious injury to herself.

Ben thrust the sword at her belly, and she jumped back again, this time colliding with a solid person. Poe spoke before she could stab Finn, “It’s us!” Finn handed Rey his sword, and took her knife. He and Poe went back to back - Finn to watch Rey and Ben, and Poe to watch the entry from the lower level. 

Rey and Ben began to circle each other, and he charged, delivering an overhead blow. Rey had no choice but to meet his blade with her own. The force of the blow reverberated in her arms, but she held. Ben began to try to push her to her knees.

“Who’s Kylo Ren?” she asked him softly.

The look in Ben’s eyes changed in a heartbeat from anger to sorrow to anger to resignation. “Me. I am Kylo Ren.” He withdrew his sword, and Rey almost stumbled forward into his arms. 

They began to circle again. “And the women? Were they your wives too?”

Ben - or Kylo - sighed. “Yes.” He looked at her fiercely. “I didn’t want you to join them. You just had to stay out of the room.”

“And them, what? Did you love them too? Did you not want to kill them too?”

He looked at her bleakly, “No.” Something broke fully within Rey, and she charged him, screaming. With each cut she swung, he blocked her, but not with the strength he should have. Rey knew that he was nearing his end. She drove her sword upwards, slicing through his chest and cheek. Ben fell back, dropping his own sword. 

“Then why?” She leveled her sword at his throat, while he was on the ground.

“I had to. You were supposed to be the last, but I didn’t want to kill you.”

The sword was beginning to prick his neck, and blood was welling up under the tip. “You should be the one to die. After murdering those poor women.”

Ben spoke to her so quietly that only she could hear. “I should be. Please, not in the castle. Take me outside, and off the grounds. Then kill me if you still want to.”

“I don’t want to. I still love you Ben, but you’re a monster.”

Rey heard her brothers shout, “No!” in unison behind her, but it was too late.

The moment Rey split Ben’s throat with her sword, blood bursting back onto her, red light swirled around the castle. Finn and Poe’s shouts died in the air, and then they were gone. The weapons in the room were gone. The damage done to the room was gone. Ben was gone. Rey was left standing in the middle of the room, holding the keyring to the house in her hand. The littlest key was back on the ring, and it was golden yet again, no longer scarlet.

Charles came hustling up the stairs. “There you are Mistress Ren. We’ve been worried sick about you since you arrived in such a tizzy.”

Rey stared at the butler. “No, I’m Mistress Rey.”

“Really, as if I wouldn’t know my own employer,” Charles huffed and headed back down the stairs.

Rey headed straight for the room in the basement. The door opened without the key, without any blood. The six bodies were gone. Left in their place were the shelves, the racks, and the vats. The six former wives of Kylo Ren were gone though. The bastard sword was back in its place.

This time in the room, Rey noticed a small desk that she hadn’t seen before. On it was a letter, addressed to “My beloved Rey.” She tore it open, and read:

_My love,_

_By now, either you are dead or I am. For your sake, I hope it is you and not me. If you are reading this however, I am now deceased, and Castle Ren and all that comes with it is yours._

_Charles and Arnold will never die. Please don’t try to kill them, they become monstrously cranky._

_The castle has a strict set of rules. Seven bodies, seven years. You must marry each one, and you must kill each one. The blood in the vats is for the castle. You may leave the castle to find a spouse, or to keep the castle running. Anything else, and it will prevent you from leaving. You will likely never see your parents or your brothers again. I am sorry._

_I wish that this could have ended any other way. Castle Ren makes it impossible. You cannot kill yourself. Only a future spouse can. If they do, they inherit the castle, the curse, and it becomes their job to supply the castle with the bodies._

_If you make it to seven, you can leave the castle. If you do not provide the castle with a body each year, it will find a way for you to. Believe me, it will be much worse than if you chose yourself._

_I love you still, no matter what happened._

_Yours,_  
_Ben_

Rey stared at the letter, feeling tears well in her eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to those of you who read this! I know it's not a topic that's exactly comfy for everyone, so I appreciate you taking this time to read the dark path I trod here.
> 
> The title comes from a 1917 poem, known as "Bluebeard," written by Edna St. Vincent Millay.


End file.
